Falling Skies: "Molon Labe" Review

A tense standoff forces Tom to make a few hard decisions.

“Molon Labe” more than makes up for the disappointing outing last week. With wall-to-wall action and a key turning point in the war against the enemy, this is easily the best episode of the season and could be considered one of the best of the series. A lot of issues with the plot that have arisen these past few weeks are finally addressed and the series feels like it’s back on track after a mixed last couple of episodes.

The action ramps up within the first minute with events picking up right where we left off last week. Karen’s plan to trick Ben into being captured by the Overlords is revealed and for a second I thought we were going to have an entire episode dealing with Ben’s rescue. Thankfully, an entire fighter squadron had been tracking Ben and Karen, immediately taking action and coming to the rescue. Another week of “rescue the Mason” boy averted! That’s already a plus in my books.

What really sets the tone for the episode is the capture of the Overlord. It was an unexpected turn and it was obvious the repercussions for capturing such a high-ranking member of the enemy would be huge. The reason for last week’s episode being lite on the effects is obvious here as the Overlord and a few Mechs get a lot of screen time.

With the Overlord in custody a tense standoff between the 2nd Mass and the surrounding enemy ensues. Karen is used as a mouthpiece for the enemy and I have to say Jessy Schram is doing good work in the role. She’s effectively creepy and does a great job conveying the enemy's twisted sense of superiority.

The tension was thick and for the first time in a long while it wasn’t easy to see how things would turn out. Especially after we see Jamil, a series semi-regular, chewed out from the inside by the enemy’s newest weapon. The reveal of this new, smaller, enemy that attacks en masse was well handled. It’s clear that Falling Skies is pulling from the video game textbook on enemy types. As soon as I saw these new little critters I instinctively new they would be best handled with a shotgun or flamethrower; both came into play by the end of the episode.

With Jamil dead, Lourdes spirals into a tailspin of doubt as she does a great job of channeling Colonel Hudson from Aliens. I rarely mention Lourdes because she’s generally inconsequential to just about anything that happens on this show but it was amusing to watch her completely breakdown after Jamil was ripped apart by alien bugs. Maybe I’m a horrible person for saying that, but Lourdes amuses me to no end.

Matt comes in handy and actually gets to do something rather heroic as he crawls through some air ducts in hopes of finding rescue for both Lourdes and Dr. Glass. Good to see him used as something other than Skitter bait. It’s also good to see him stay out of Tom’s hair for the rest of the episode.

Tom’s standoff with the imprisoned Overlord was by far the most shocking moment of “Molon Labe.” I was glad to see that Tom had the balls to put a bullet in the fish head’s gullet. Tom has shown consistently that he’s willing to push the envelope in the fight against the enemy and I thought shooting the Overlord was the right move even if it did prove the enemies point that emotion and compassion drive our response and potentially make us weaker. I think Tom showed that it also made us dangerous. Tactically, it wasn’t the best response but the Overlord tried to kill his son, I don’t blame him one bit.

That leaves us with the great final scene. They’ve finally done a good job of handling Ben’s story here and given us a good enough explanation as to why he needs to leave. His plan to gather other kids like him is sound and he’s right, he is a danger to the group as we’ve seen time and time again. What works well here is that his departure is done with the support of his father. I had grown tired of seeing Ben work against Tom and Hal these past few weeks. I’m glad he was willing to stand up to his father like a man and explain his side of the situation. What’s even better is that Tom was finally able to accept Ben’s situation, allowing him to do what must be done. It’s a great capper to what is easily the best episode of the season so far and I finally feel myself getting excited for the series again!